Hello bunch of slugs! I introduce myself, Lieutenant Rankkor, member of the Matukai guild on the republic side on Mantle of the Force, air / air combat instructor from the academy of brainless pilots unfit for the republic's stick touch on Coruscant. Open your minds wide, what I'm going to tell you is the absolute truth, anyone daring to voice their disagreement will be carbon-frozen outright for a hundred years.
Well, no more roleplayist galéjades. First of all, know that in truth I do not claim to have absolute knowledge, nor the intention to tell you exactly what to do to win because in war, surprise and improvisation often go hand in hand. However, I will try via this "guide" to show you my way of fighting and seeing space combat in order to perhaps help some of you who have great difficulties to understand this aspect of the game in a less chaotic way.
I will try not to go over the basics already covered by other players in a very complete way on this same site, but to push the "combat techniques" a little further. Forgive me in advance so often I compare space combat to combat in a terrestrial atmosphere, already one because at the base it is part of my IRL job and even if there is no planetary attraction in GSF, the space combat of the Star Wars universe has always been approached in a conventional manner and GSF is no exception to this rule.
RULE N ° 1: choose your ship
Certainly I grant you, it has already been said in the previous guides, but your preferred fighting style will depend on the type of ship to take. And this will have a primary influence on everything else so this choice should not be neglected. In an extremely simplified way:
- Do you like the Dogfight to turn the pancake in all directions while "doing the inside" of your opponent? Take the scout, he's the king of close range combat thanks to his unmatched rate of turn. Beware of bombers however because they have a lot of health points and their drones will take you down ...
- You like to be a little slower but more resistant and powerful, take the hunters, easier to handle and versatile. But beware, in close combat against a scout, you will have little chance.
- You don't like to fly because you can't aim and you prefer to secure a position by dropping drones? Go immediately buy a bomber, you can create real defensive nests and support your allies. Watch out for armed ships though, as you evolve slowly and they'll line you up from afar!
- Are you the type to crouch in the shadow of an asteroid and are you a fan of balloon shooting at fairgrounds? This time, you will have to pass your qualification as an armed shooter. You will hurt from afar. On the other hand, once spotted and chased by a scout or a hunter, your seconds will be counted if reinforcements do not arrive quickly ...
Personally, I opted for a Flashfire, a republic scout with higher firepower compared to the Novadive.
RULE N ° 2: manage your energy
What, that too has already been said? Too bad, I'm driving the nail! Managing your energy during a fight is the only way to stay competitive. GSF is like that! You have a speed bonus in speed mode in addition to the faster reserve regeneration, a damage bonus in power mode to blasters in addition to regeneration etc ...
I personally do not like this game mechanic which relies on the pressure of the space bar to survive effortlessly… But the game is like that, so we make do with it. It would be difficult to count the number of players eliminated easily because they would flee forward by pressing the space bar when targeted until they ran out of energy, and therefore became an easy target ET for missiles AND for the blasters, in energy management in balanced mode when their attacker has followed and caught them in speed mode then re-engaged in power mode!
To this, we must add that managing your energy does not mean repeating the same patterns all the time! Engaging in a 1vs1 spinning fight is not the same as starting a 5vs4 fight where you alone versus 6. Getting into speed mode and automatically going into blasters mode when you are alone against 3 or more players starts to lose. look like premeditated suicide, because no matter how good you are, you will take the lead! In this situation, prefer a shield mode, or stay in speed, which will allow you to pull yourself if the going gets tough.
Conversely, you arrive with three of your wingers in formation to fight against an unfortunate man who is circling around a control point, do not hesitate to switch all to power mode and give him a load, at best he will be destroyed quickly, at worst it will leak!
Personally I have one big flaw, I'm a hothead, even when I'm at 1vs6 I don't listen to my own rules, I go into blasters mode and I dismantle everything I can before I pick up / die / too much. flee… Ultimate rule: do what I say, not what I do!
RULE N ° 3: go where you can help
It's simple to say, and yet… This rule that applies to any armed encounter is unfortunately often ignored in SWTOR PvP matches, whether in space or on the ground. Going to a checkpoint already owned by your team when there are already 4 allied ships, no attack in progress, while the opposite team has two that you are struggling to regain is nonsense! !
On the other hand, betting on a player's reputation to "lock in" the opposing team can be a plan that will change the game.
Let me explain: some players have made a name for themselves in GS, Empire side on my server, I noted several (ZiaMortis, Elthya, Torpilleur, I'L, and others that I forget but when I see their names right away I know who they are). When we see these names, usually in operation chat, we can read: "Focus on so-and-so." "Reputed side (Kerrigane, Terroxia, Norrin'Radd and others ...) we will read" all behind such and such, he is good ".
Capitalize on these players. Focus a player will guarantee not to take full face from him because he will be too busy managing his own survival. On the other hand, it will monopolize the attention of several pilots of your team to bring it down, which will leave the field free for his team to look elsewhere. When a player feels FOCUSed by the opposing team, he has every interest in keeping his team's hell out of control, for example by going on his own to attack a satellite (A for example) on which there is little defense. Just by announcing his name in such and such a place, it will gather 1, 2 or even more pilots to manage it because it is scary. During this time his team is outnumbered on a satellite to capture / defend.
It might sound suicidal, sure, but when you manage to destroy 4 ships + 3 turrets on a satellite all to yourself, it's going to screw up the apparent tranquility of the team across the way. And if your team follows on the other satellite, you have the advantage. Small tip: if you find yourself attacking a satellite alone, start by unsoldering the turrets, they affect you much better than the players ...
RULE N ° 4: use 3D
Umpteenth breaking open door. The air / space combat has a particularity compared to the ground combat: the fact of evolving in 3 dimensions and not 2. It can confuse some, but it is necessary to force oneself to use the verticality of the charts to surprise the adversary, to arrive above or behind the latter, the result will be the same: he will not have seen you coming. We can feel Bioware's timid desire not to lose space combat neophytes by offering horizontal cards in their design, but that doesn't mean that you have to end up head-to-head on an objective.
The example which seems to me the most telling concerning me: for a moment, the guys who had fun spinning around the foot of a satellite irritated me to the highest point because protected by the satellite at every turn. However, all you have to do is place yourself well below the satellite, look upwards and turn on the guy who thinks he's safe. If he does not want to serve as an easy target he will have to come out of his hole! Be careful, however, special mention to the bombers that stick to the stationary under the satellite with sniper drones + seismic mines in front of them + repair drone, unmanageable with the weaponry I have chosen for my flash.
RULE N ° 5: do not persevere
I know, it's not easy to abandon a wounded prey but when it goes fast and it does nothing you will have a hard time killing it permanently, at the risk of wasting time at best to come back. join your allies in the panade, at worst you will fall into an ambush of armed ships ... This is a strategy widely used by some players who have become experts in the art of fleeing who are just waiting for your weariness to turn around and try to come back and take you in the back.
You can think of it what you want, cowards, bad, new minds, whatever they do and bitching won't win you over.
Your target does not want to die and wants to flee far far away? Force yourself to abandon her if it doesn't serve your interests and she doesn't turn around quickly to come back and try to do it backwards ...
Not bullying also means not focusing on a single target when there are several opponents around you who are lining you up while you vainly try to set fire to your victim's armor. Too often I see "go kill me" players who let themselves be dismantled without reacting because they are in the process of opening fire themselves. I'm not in their head, but if the thinking right now is "I'm going to have my target before I die", that's a terrible idea. Well, not for my score! I am thinking in particular of the armed ships which have, it seems, loaded their guns and who do not want to give up their energy for nothing.
RULE N ° 6: stay mobile
I should have put this rule in No. 1, because it is in real air / air combat… Mobility is the basis of survival in combat. Advancing in a straight line will only require your attacker to point forward with his mouse. Changing direction will catch him off guard, force him to readjust his shot, waste time. If only by doing rolls (you put your mouse up, and you press D or Q continuously) with a "space bar mode" boost and you will drive crazy whoever is chasing you ...
Try, unless you are a scout with maximum rate of turn boost, never to engage in spinning combat. It's a type of combat where the two protagonists go around in circles reducing their speed to the maximum to try to get inside. You'll waste maximum time and make an easy target for all other devices within range. Because visually for you, you will be on the move, but for an external observer, you will be only a bunch of pixels which makes circles in front of him.
(NB: something that surprises me but which has been addressed in comments on the other guides. Apparently in GS, you get the highest rate of turn when you reduce your speed to the minimum notch which goes against the logic of a classic combat where at low speed we can no longer turn and at very high speed we have so many load factors that the machine, and the man above all, have difficulty supporting such an angle of attack ... ).
Advanced techniques
Okay, are you still with me? Forward for advanced techniques! We will try to see what to do with which type of ship when you are in which type of device. It means nothing ? No problem, I am the instructor, you are the students. Period !
Solo techniques
As you know you have your viewfinder that you move with your mouse and what we will call a shooting circle, which is fixed in your screen. You also have on your target a aiming reticle which anticipates the movements of the target. You already know that when you aim at an enemy, the more you aim at the center of the aiming reticle of your target, the more chance you have to criticize.
As you have done your lessons well, you also know that the more your target is centered in your shooting circle, the more chance you have of touching it. Finally, you were aware that your weapons have ranges that change your accuracy (chance to hit) depending on your distance from the target.
Well, now you should know that the best solution to not end up in cosmic dust is to not enter the enemy's range of fire while keeping it in yours.
Yes my master, but how to do?
You're a…
... Scout Against Scout : the most rotten type of fight in my eyes, because it can last a long time if both players are good and no one comes to shake it all up. Both turn fast, both want to be close to each other to open fire and hurt, and both can flee quickly while possessing generally high evasion which reduces the chance of a hit on goal. Here, only your dexterity and your luck will give you the upper hand (and also the type of ship optimizations you choose).
... Scout vs. Hunter : already, we have a nice difference. Normally a more agile ship than another with lower firepower and hit points. The scout will seek to cross the hunter as quickly as possible by avoiding his shots and then stick to him permanently to maintain the pressure and never fall prey.
The hunter will avoid the swirling combat at all costs because he will not have the advantage, he will try to gain distance to return to the scout and try to hit him first, because theoretically he has a more powerful weapon with a greater range (better solution in my eyes for the hunter but others are not of this opinion, comment…).
... Scout vs. Bomber : Hardest fight for the scout IMHO, as the bomber can shoot its attacker without needing to have it in its line of sight, just by dropping drones. The scout will have to choose between destroying the drones and letting the bomber live or attempting to bring down the bomber at the risk of the drones shooting him down. I must admit that this situation is still a dilemma for me because drones have too many health points to be destroyed quickly. And the bomber is a bag of health that the scout's power reserve doesn't allow you to take down quickly.
The bomber on its side will not move away from its drones until the storm has passed, do you have a scout in your ass? A mine, a repair drone, a "sniper" drone and a few shots of the space bar and normally you should get by without too much damage ...
... Scout vs. Armed Ship : the pure opposites, which nevertheless attract each other so well. The scout will approach in max boost mode towards the armed ship but never from the front, he will pass him in the back and throw the mash to him to scare him or even destroy him.
The armed ship will need to quickly prepare to move its butt from where it is if it sees that its target is heading towards it and it fails to shoot it down, it will flee until it finds help and not before. Because still too many players think that because they have done 10 seconds of boost, they are safe. With a leech like me, you can be sure to resume fire as soon as you are stopped.
... Fighter versus bomber : the advantage compared to the scout on this clash for the hunter is that it is more solid and has better firepower and better range, so the question does not even arise: if the bomber is within range, fire at will.
For its part, the bomber will have to try to move his buttocks a little more, because the hunter being a bit less mobile than the scout, he will be able to gain time to allow his drones to cover him.
... Hunter versus hunter : not much to say, it will be the best, the luckiest and the most optimized who will win!
... Hunter vs. Armed Ship : here the approach is different from the scout. You have less engine speed and power reserve. So if an armed ship lines you up 15 km away, you might have a hard time coming fast enough to scare it off without taking any shots at you. Try to hide, putting an obstacle between you and him, and come back around it later. If you are halfway, do not hesitate, go for it.
For the armed vessel, a hunter is solid. If he runs away, you will be tempted to keep him in target even if he is hiding, but during this time you are useless. It's up to you to see if you take the risk of dropping it to take another target and fear being bypassed, or if you sacrifice your team a little but making sure not to be opened ...
... Armed spaceship against bomber : no difficulty for the armed vessel. The bomber being little maneuvering and having a tendency to make a nest from which it will not want to move, you will only have to line it up from a distance. Do not succumb to the urge to get closer / move to try to shoot him if he comes to hide behind an obstacle, you will expose yourself.
For the bomber, if a sniper shoots you, two solutions: quick escape or hiding. If you come across an armed vessel by surprise, turn around it by putting a few mines on it, rather in front of it because this is the direction usually taken with space bar as soon as it is shot. Once the trap is in place, shoot it a bit, it should make a standing start defying all competition ...
... Armed vessel versus armed vessel : at long distance, it will be who shoots first with the best weapon, blah blah, welcome to "OK CORAL". If you feel lucky, go for the other and try to challenge him to a short-distance duel, it will destabilize him.
... Bomber vs. Bomber : I don't think there can be such bad clashes. You turn around each other by dropping your drones while waiting for them to do the job ...
Okay, we got it, but won't we fly in a formation of several planes?
So of course, GSF is a multi PvP game. And as always, team play is the key to success.
Group techniques
Please note, it will be difficult for me to make an exhaustive list of the possibilities given the number of possible combinations of players and weapons.
In real air combat, versatility is a major asset. And this is why in most PvP games, in theory each class / type is limited in its possibilities to encourage / force to play with its little comrades in order to apply the rock / sheet / scissors on a large scale. GSF is no exception to the rule.
Just as there is no point in having two armed ships camping under a satellite to defend it, there is no point in having two scouts circling around the same target together.
When you see two players turning around, don't get stuck with them. Take some distance and take down the opponent easily. Or force him to change his method, which will unblock the situation for your ally.
Do not hesitate to use complementary weapons. If you are playing with friends, and with a microphone why not, if one of the two is armed with ion blasters, the other with heavy blasters, there is a good chance that if you target the same player, he will not. don't hold two seconds.
If an armed ship bothers you, there are two of you: one that rushes at it to get it moving, the other that starts locking it down with a long-range proton torpedo.
If you are two ships armed to attack the same point, do not stick to each other, you would be unable to cover each other, and you would be easily disturbed by the first scout to come and target you one after the other. the other.
If you are two bombers fortifying a position: great, it will be almost impregnable unless all the opposite team or almost stick to it. But be careful though, a scout with anti-drone options will easily incapacitate you both!
If you have several opponents who stick to the train of a winger, do not hesitate to enter the fray and shoot all these beautiful people a little, it could save their life, and yours too.
If you are a bomber, and you find a well-placed allied armed ship, leave it a repair probe and a mine not too far away, if it gets chased, it will be very happy!
If you're playing with the new types of ships and playing team support, try more to stay close to your allies than to hit the enemy.
Here, I stop there for the theory. Now it's up to you to find your techniques: exchange, try, learn. I repeat once again, surprising your opponent is essential and trying to stupidly apply these few techniques will go for a while if you are new to the game, but you will have to bring your own personal touch, combine your weapons differently to find the method that suits you. best suits and will give you the best results! Many players will use even more complex techniques by taking advantage of the customization of their ships in order to adapt it to their own style of play. Because a ship, contrary to what I say above, is not confined to a only role, but can be oriented in another way according to your desires. Up to you.
Good luck, and may the forge be with you.
